The Replay Bug again

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spence
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Location: Vancouver, Washington

The Replay Bug again

Post by spence »

For the first time ever in my experience the "Replay Bug" bit the most recent turn in my PBEM by showing a less optimistic result (from the standpoint of the Allies) than in reality. Usually the Replay Bug shows something like my bombers scoring a dozen hits on 3 IJN carriers on Dec 8th 41 sinking all three when in reality I lost all but one bomber and never got close to the IJN carriers. Occurrences such as this have caused me to ask for the Combat Summary file along with the Replay and Next Turn as a matter of course. In this instance my Opps Combat Summary file showed the 144th Regiment being wiped out in a battle for Cooktown but the replay of the last turn file showed the loss of only about 750 men and a few guns (out of some 3500 odd men and 30 odd guns). (The next turn file shows no Japanese presence at all in Cooktown)

So has anybody else ever seen a Replay Bug that showed less (from the Allied point of view) than actually happened?
Is this a new iteration of the Replay Bug (since the old one seemed to have been beaten)?

(I do have saves of the new turn, the replay and Combat Summary if needed)
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BillBrown
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RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by BillBrown »

I had one game of three that constantly had replay errors. Some were better, some were worse. I finally gave up and surrendered.
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Lokasenna
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RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by Lokasenna »

It varies in both directions, because the nature of the bug is that the random numbers used for the dice rolls get pulled from a different place in the table.
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witpqs
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RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by witpqs »

spence, the bug(s) that cause this are not biased toward better or worse for either side before or after. The only thing consistent is that the results in the combat replay (that the Allied player sees) are different than the turn resolution results (that the Japan player saw previously).

I had one happen a few weeks ago and noticed a key thing that makes them easy to spot as the Allied player. First off, four reports are created when you run the combat replay.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt

But some time ago, the developers made the main turn file store internally the combatreport.txt file that was created when the turn resolution ran (the "official" results that the Japan player sees). When the Allied player loads the turn, it writes out that "official" combatreport.txt. Almost always it is exactly the same as the one that was already there. But if there had been a sync bug, then it will be different. How can this help show if you did or did not have a sync bug?

Before the Allied player opens the turn, rename the combatreport.txt that was created by the replay. In other words, take the illustration above and make it look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then, when you open the turn you will not lose the combat report from the replay. What you have will look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then you can look at the files. If they are different sizes, then you definitely had a sync bug. If the files are the same size, it is almost certain you did not have a sync bug (because having a sync bug with the files winding up being exactly the same size is incredibly unlikely). If the files are the same size but you are still suspicious for some reason, you can run a comparison (a "diff") between the two to see if the contents are identical.
spence
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Location: Vancouver, Washington

RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by spence »

Oh OK, I had always seen an overly optimistic outcome for the Allied Player before.
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crsutton
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RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by crsutton »

Had one recently. My Allied forces crushed a Japanese cruiser force. ----not!
I am the Holy Roman Emperor and am above grammar.

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Lokasenna
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Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:57 am
Location: Iowan in MD/DC

RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by Lokasenna »

ORIGINAL: witpqs

spence, the bug(s) that cause this are not biased toward better or worse for either side before or after. The only thing consistent is that the results in the combat replay (that the Allied player sees) are different than the turn resolution results (that the Japan player saw previously).

I had one happen a few weeks ago and noticed a key thing that makes them easy to spot as the Allied player. First off, four reports are created when you run the combat replay.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt

But some time ago, the developers made the main turn file store internally the combatreport.txt file that was created when the turn resolution ran (the "official" results that the Japan player sees). When the Allied player loads the turn, it writes out that "official" combatreport.txt. Almost always it is exactly the same as the one that was already there. But if there had been a sync bug, then it will be different. How can this help show if you did or did not have a sync bug?

Before the Allied player opens the turn, rename the combatreport.txt that was created by the replay. In other words, take the illustration above and make it look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then, when you open the turn you will not lose the combat report from the replay. What you have will look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then you can look at the files. If they are different sizes, then you definitely had a sync bug. If the files are the same size, it is almost certain you did not have a sync bug (because having a sync bug with the files winding up being exactly the same size is incredibly unlikely). If the files are the same size but you are still suspicious for some reason, you can run a comparison (a "diff") between the two to see if the contents are identical.

I don't rename the combatreport.txt file and the in-turn combat report (by pressing 'C') is the accurate one that the Japanese player saw. I compare the two if I think there's been a bug.
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witpqs
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Location: Argleton

RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by witpqs »

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: witpqs

spence, the bug(s) that cause this are not biased toward better or worse for either side before or after. The only thing consistent is that the results in the combat replay (that the Allied player sees) are different than the turn resolution results (that the Japan player saw previously).

I had one happen a few weeks ago and noticed a key thing that makes them easy to spot as the Allied player. First off, four reports are created when you run the combat replay.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt

But some time ago, the developers made the main turn file store internally the combatreport.txt file that was created when the turn resolution ran (the "official" results that the Japan player sees). When the Allied player loads the turn, it writes out that "official" combatreport.txt. Almost always it is exactly the same as the one that was already there. But if there had been a sync bug, then it will be different. How can this help show if you did or did not have a sync bug?

Before the Allied player opens the turn, rename the combatreport.txt that was created by the replay. In other words, take the illustration above and make it look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then, when you open the turn you will not lose the combat report from the replay. What you have will look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then you can look at the files. If they are different sizes, then you definitely had a sync bug. If the files are the same size, it is almost certain you did not have a sync bug (because having a sync bug with the files winding up being exactly the same size is incredibly unlikely). If the files are the same size but you are still suspicious for some reason, you can run a comparison (a "diff") between the two to see if the contents are identical.

I don't rename the combatreport.txt file and the in-turn combat report (by pressing 'C') is the accurate one that the Japanese player saw. I compare the two if I think there's been a bug.
If you don't rename the one from the replay then it gets over-written as soon as you open the turn. I'm not sure how you can compare against it after it's gone, so I guess I am not understanding what you mean.
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Lokasenna
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RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by Lokasenna »

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: witpqs

spence, the bug(s) that cause this are not biased toward better or worse for either side before or after. The only thing consistent is that the results in the combat replay (that the Allied player sees) are different than the turn resolution results (that the Japan player saw previously).

I had one happen a few weeks ago and noticed a key thing that makes them easy to spot as the Allied player. First off, four reports are created when you run the combat replay.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt

But some time ago, the developers made the main turn file store internally the combatreport.txt file that was created when the turn resolution ran (the "official" results that the Japan player sees). When the Allied player loads the turn, it writes out that "official" combatreport.txt. Almost always it is exactly the same as the one that was already there. But if there had been a sync bug, then it will be different. How can this help show if you did or did not have a sync bug?

Before the Allied player opens the turn, rename the combatreport.txt that was created by the replay. In other words, take the illustration above and make it look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then, when you open the turn you will not lose the combat report from the replay. What you have will look like this.

aoperationsreport.txt
asigint.txt
CombatEvents.txt
combatreport.txt
combatreport-replay.txt

Then you can look at the files. If they are different sizes, then you definitely had a sync bug. If the files are the same size, it is almost certain you did not have a sync bug (because having a sync bug with the files winding up being exactly the same size is incredibly unlikely). If the files are the same size but you are still suspicious for some reason, you can run a comparison (a "diff") between the two to see if the contents are identical.

I don't rename the combatreport.txt file and the in-turn combat report (by pressing 'C') is the accurate one that the Japanese player saw. I compare the two if I think there's been a bug.
If you don't rename the one from the replay then it gets over-written as soon as you open the turn. I'm not sure how you can compare against it after it's gone, so I guess I am not understanding what you mean.

Hrm. In my experience, that doesn't happen... maybe my experience is incorrect. It's possible that I am opening the text file before the turn.
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witpqs
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Location: Argleton

RE: The Replay Bug again

Post by witpqs »

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna




I don't rename the combatreport.txt file and the in-turn combat report (by pressing 'C') is the accurate one that the Japanese player saw. I compare the two if I think there's been a bug.
If you don't rename the one from the replay then it gets over-written as soon as you open the turn. I'm not sure how you can compare against it after it's gone, so I guess I am not understanding what you mean.

Hrm. In my experience, that doesn't happen... maybe my experience is incorrect. It's possible that I am opening the text file before the turn.
Yes, and it depends on what editor you are using. Some editors watch in case the file you have open is changed by another program. If you go to the Tech Support area and look at the thread I opened to report the sync bug we encountered, you will see that I included both versions of the combat report. In that case one is like twice the size of the other, but any difference at all should be telling. It's been handy to have both open in the editor and just glance at the "length" (in characters) to see that there is no sync bug.
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